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Cingulate abnormalities in bipolar disorder relate to gender and outcome: a voxel-based morphometry study

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A Correction to this article was published on 15 June 2018

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Abstract

Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies reported gray matter (GM) loss in bipolar disorder (BD) in cingulate cortices, key regions subserving emotional regulation and cognitive functions in humans. The aim of this study was to further explore cingulate GM volumes in a sizeable group of BD patients with respect to healthy controls, particularly investigating the impact of gender and clinical variables. 39 BD patients (mean Age = 48.6 ± 9.7, 15 males and 24 females) and 39 demographically matched healthy subjects (mean Age = 47.9 ± 9.1, 15 males and 24 females) underwent a 1.5T MRI scan. GM volumes within the cingulate cortex were manually detected, including anterior and posterior regions. BD patients had decreased left anterior cingulate volumes compared with healthy controls (F = 6.7, p = 0.01). Additionally, a significant gender effect was observed, with male patients showing reduced left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) volumes compared to healthy controls (F = 5.1, p = 0.03). Furthermore, a significant inverse correlation between right ACC volumes and number of hospitalizations were found in the whole group of BD patients (r = − 0.51, p = 0.04) and in male BD patients (r = − 0.88, p = 0.04). Finally, no statistically significant correlations were observed in female BD patients. Our findings further confirm the putative role of the ACC in the pathophysiology of BD. Interestingly, this study also suggested the presence of gender-specific GM volume reductions in ACC in BD, which may also be associated to poor outcome.

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  • 15 June 2018

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Acknowledgements

This study was partially supported by grants from the Italian Ministry of Health to PB and GD (RF-2011-02352308) and to MB (GR-2010-2319022). We thank Gianluca Rambaldelli for managing the dataset.

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Author notes

  1. Giuseppe Delvecchio and Valentina Ciappolino contributed equally to the study.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IRCCS “E. Medea” Scientific Institute, San Vito al Tagliamento, PN, Italy

    Giuseppe Delvecchio

  2. Department of Neurosciences and Mental Health, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, University of Milan, via F. Sforza 35, 20122, Milan, Italy

    Valentina Ciappolino, A. Carlo Altamura & Paolo Brambilla

  3. Section of Clinical Psychology, Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

    Cinzia Perlini

  4. Interuniversity Centre for Behavioural Neurosciences, AOUI Verona, Verona, Italy

    Cinzia Perlini, Mirella Ruggeri & Marcella Bellani

  5. Section of Radiology, Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences, University Hospital of Verona, Verona, Italy

    Marco Barillari

  6. Section of Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

    Mirella Ruggeri & Marcella Bellani

  7. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, University of Texas at Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Paolo Brambilla

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  1. Giuseppe Delvecchio
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  2. Valentina Ciappolino
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  3. Cinzia Perlini
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Correspondence to Paolo Brambilla.

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Delvecchio, G., Ciappolino, V., Perlini, C. et al. Cingulate abnormalities in bipolar disorder relate to gender and outcome: a voxel-based morphometry study. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 269, 777–784 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-018-0887-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-018-0887-1

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